Tabloid television is similar to
tabloid newspapers. Tabloid
television newscasts usually incorporate flashy graphics and
sensationalized stories, some with little or no local relevance.
Often, there is a heavy emphasis on crime, stories with good video,
and celebrity news. It is a form of
infotainment. Tabloid television, like tabloid
newspapers, is a product of a purely commercial media market.
Because
its content tends to stem from a need to gain ratings, tabloid
television thrives in commercial environments where there are no
oversight bodies (such as the BBC Trust
and OFCOM
in the UK)
to set cultural standards. In establishing a fourth
commercial broadcast network in the United States, the first new
network in many decades,
Rupert
Murdoch's strategy was to take the media product down market in
order to gain a commercial foothold in the face of heavily financed
established media.
The United States is not the only television market with this
category of broadcasting - Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and
France, to name a few, all have tabloid programming that reflects
this same down-market, sensationalist style of journalism and
entertainment.
Examples of tabloid television
The basic tabloid television format developed on nationally
syndicated programs such as
Hard Copy,
Inside Edition, and
A Current Affair, which all
incorporate flashy graphics with sensational stories.
Tabloid talk shows were extremely popular
during the end of the 20th century.
Some
stations, like CBS owned and operated KYW-TV
, air
primarily weather and crime stories. Other stations, such
as the CBS network flagship station WCBS-TV
, put their
own special programming ahead of hard news, as, for
example, when exclusive "Shame on You" and "Eat At Your Own Risk"
segments are selected over major stories to top the
newscast. One egregious example of this trend occurred on
May 24,
2005, the day the
United States
House of Representatives took a major vote regarding the
funding of
stem cell research. WCBS led
its 11 p.m. newscast with a story and exclusive video of actor
Burt Reynolds slapping a CBS producer.
Rivals
WNBC
and WABC
led with the
stem cell funding vote.
WSVN
in Miami, Florida
was one of the first stations to popularize tabloid
television in the local news arena. Today, the format is
prevalent among FOX
affiliates such as WNYW-TV
and WTTG-TV
.
FOX's parent company,
News
Corporation, owns
The New York
Post, a notorious daily tabloid newspaper.
TVI in Portugal
is also a well known example of tabloid television;
its newscasts regularly open with frivolous stories and self
promotion, and its talk shows account for more than 12 hours a
day. TVI only broadcasts two television genres other than
information:
telenovelas and corny,
sexist humour.
A commonly cited example of tabloid television run amok is a series
of reports in 2001 collectively dubbed the
Summer of the Shark, focusing on a
supposed epidemic of shark attacks after one highly-publicized
attack on an 8-year-old boy. In reality, there were a below-average
number of shark attacks that year.
Parodies of news and entertainment
Drop the Dead Donkey (
Channel 4, UK)
Frontline (ABC
, Australia)
Further reading
- Potter, Deborah (October/November 2003). A Story for All Seasons. American Journalism
Review. Found at NewsLab.org (July 16, 2005).
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